Another Person to Say Goodbye
by ellylilly-pcmh
Summary: Just before regeneration, the Doctor goes to visit his friends. Before going to find Rose, the TARDIS finds an old friend and brings the Doctor to England in the early 1900s. He has to say goodbye to another person. Set: between Season 2 and 3 of Downton Abbey - Just at the end of "The End of Time", Doctor Who 4x13. Isobel/Clarkson taken for granted. - First Fanfiction - R/R pls.


**It was just begging me to be written. Really. It popped in my mind last night, perfectly complet, and I just wrote it down.**

**The characters belongs to Mr Moffat and Mr Fellowes - Damn you both, you destroyers of lives and feeling, I just borrow all of them for a few time.**

**- For Lavender and Hay, because I promised her. And I've been horrible in late -**

Her head snapped up from the flowers she was cutting and she looked around, puzzled, searching the strange but somehow familiar that had distracted her from her gardening.

"Isobel, is everything alright?"

She looked at him, at her wonderful man, sitting on the small bench of her back-garden, enjoying the privacy that the hedges seemed to provided them and he warm summer-sun, the daily newspaper in his long hands.

"Yes, my darling," she attempted a smile, but the sound resounded again and her attention was moved to the other side garden "Everything okay..."

"You seem... distracted."

"Sorry, Richard," she stood up from where she was knelt down, wiped the dirt and the grass from her cream skirt and sat down beside him, glancing curiously behind her as she approached him, "I've just hear a strange, yet familiar, noise." Isobel curled at his side on the bench, frowning a little, "As if it were a distant memory."

"Which kind of noise, my beloved?" Richard asked, intrigued as well as her, but also puzzled by the way it seemed to hit her, she was way too thoughtful, "May I help you?"

"I don't know... it was something like _woooop woooop_."

"_Woooop woooop_?"

...**...**

"There was a strange thing today, near the back of the hospital."

"A strange thing?" Isobel looked at him across the dinner table in her kitchen, "Why do strange things always happen when I'm not there? I had to bear Cousin Violet all the day long!"

Richard laughed, "You're just unlucky sometimes, Isobel."

"So, what happened?"

Throwing one last amused smile to her, he continued to tell her what has happened at the hospital "There was a police box behind the hospital."

"A _what_?"

He had his eyes lowered on the plate in front of him, and so he did not see the surprised and perhaps restless look that crossed her chocolate eyes "A police box. Quite peculiar, actually, a bright blue police box with black glasses. I tried to open it, but the door was locked." Richard shuddered lightly "I knocked but no one answered." He finally looked up at her and what he saw puzzled him even more about the behaviour she had had in the last days "Isobel? What's wrong?"

"You cannot open it if it does not want to." she murmured, her fingers pressing her temple "If it..." she trailed off, looking at him as if she was kilometres away.

"My dear?" he reached for her hand and she seemed to came back to him, "You alright?"

"Yes, it just... I don't know. I seemed to remember something, but it... it is gone."

...**...**

She woke up in the middle of the night panting heavily, the moonlight dropping in her bedroom through the open curtains, weakly illuminating the room.

"Isobel?" Richard got up on one elbow, rubbing sleepy eyes, "A nightmare?"

"The Doctor."

"What? Which doctor? I'm here if you need a doctor, are you ill?"

"The Doctor," she murmured again, "That blue police box, it's the Doctor."

"My love, you're worrying me," he sat down beside her and hugged her, covering her cold, slightly shaking body with the sheets. Only then she seemed to realize where she was and what was happening. She blinked.

"Richard?"

"I'm here, my darling. What's going on?"

"I do not know," she answered weakly, "I do not know..."

"You said something about '_The Doctor'_. Are you feeling ill? Do you need something?"

She looked at him, surprised "You're a doctor, if I need something I'll ask you, but no, I'm fine... and why should I need another doctor?"

"You were talking about him," he offered her with a small, reassuring smile "But I'm glad you're alright."

"I had a strange dream," she murmured, snuggling against his bare chest, looking for his warmth and his embrace, which he gladly provided her, "I dreamt a blue police box, an absurd one, and a young man. Well, first he was a man dressed in black, but then he became a younger guy with a brown suit and horrible red shoes. There was a blonde, kind girl with him. And the blue box was bigger on the inside."

"Something bigger on the inside? Quite a particular dream, Isobel," he kissed her on the top of her head, feeling her nervousness "But shouldn't you sleep now?"

"You're right, as always, dear."

"I'll be there, if you need me. If you had another strange dream."

"I know," she kissed him on the mouth, her lips softly pressed against his "Good night."

...**...**

It had been just a couple of nights when Isobel had that strange dream. They spent more time together, almost every night, and the fact that Matthew now lived with his newly wife at the Abbey facilitated things for the two of them.

Isobel looked up from the dishes she was washing, glanced behind her and looking fondly at Richard, reading his newspaper on the kitchen table. He was tired, she could said it from the way his brown furrowed in concentration while he was reading. "You're exhausted, my dear. Why don't you go to sleep?"

"I spent all my day at the hospital, Isobel, I'd like to stay with you, not to sleep."

She smiled "You know -" she stopped rather abruptly and snapped her head towards the door leading to the hallway, and from there to the small foyer and the living room. Her brown eyes widened and her hands were shaking. The dish that she was holding fell on the ground, breaking in a thousand of pieces.

Richard was at her side in a moment, "Isobel, what's wrong?"

"That sound."

"What?" he asked her puzzled, "Which sound?"

"The sound that I heard in the back-garden some days ago, remember?"

"The _woooop woooop_?"

"Yes," she quickly dried her hands in the dishtowel, "I've just heard it again. I'm my sitting-room." she looked at him frightened, "There's someone in the sitting-room, Richard. I'm sure of it."

"My darling -"

"Richard, there's someone in the sitting-room", she took his hand, "Please, believe me."

"Would you like me to take a look there?"

"I come with you. I don't want to stay alone."

He put his arm around her shoulders and hold her tight, "Isobel, you're trembling."

"I'm scared."

"Of that sound?"

"It remembers me something. Someone. But I do not know what or who," she looked up at him, "Yes, I'm scared."

"Let's take a look together then."

They reached the small living-room in the darkness, because all the lamps of the house did not seem to work at all. Isobel close to his side, Richard entered firstly the small living-room, barely lightened by the faint glow from the street. Eyes accustomed to the darkness, seemed to distinguish a big, square-shaped silhouettes in a corner of the room, a corner usually empty. Richard tried to turn on the light, to no avail.

"It does not work," said a male voice in the darkness, "I think it's my fault."

A choked sob escaped Isobel's lips and Richard felt her hide behind him, grabbing his jacket. He looked at the shadows, "Who are you?"

"I wasn't waiting for you, you know," went on the voice, without answering his question, "I landed in this small village a lot of times in the last few hours, even if here seems to be days, and I did not understand why. Then I landed here, in this sitting-room, and I recognized your voice." the man went silent for a long moment, then spoke again, sadly, "Your voice hasn't changed a little. But I did not expected you to be alive"

"Who are you?" Richard repeated, shielding Isobel with his body. Someone entered her house without them noticing him, and now he was talking to them as a long-lost friend, "What do you want? Money? Gold?"

"I do not want anything from you," replied quickly the man in the shadows, "I want to talk to _her_."

"Leave her alone," Richard hissed, "You would have to pass over my dead body before you could even approach her with a finger."

"Richard..." Isobel clung to his arm, terrified, her voice barely a trembling whisper, pulling him back down the hall, "Do not provoke him."

"You're very protective with her, and this is the best thing in the world. The last time I've seen her I left her without protection and she... please, I just wanted to talk." the man finally left the darkness and came in front of them, smiling quite sadly to them, "I'm sorry, I did not want to scare you, but -"

"You did not want to scare us? Oh, goodness!"

"I just want to talk to her," the young man pointed to Isobel, "Just talk. I do not want money or gold, or anything else, I do not need them. I'm just here to talk."

"Talk to me?" Isobel asked, looking at the man from behind Richard's shoulder, "Why? I do not know you?"

"You don't?" the young man face fell, "Really? You do not remember me? You're alive but you do not recognize me?"

"Of course, I'm alive!" she exclaimed, "And I've never seen you before!"

He sighed heavily and looked at his feet, his shoulders dropping visibly. Isobel and Richard took that seconds of silence to examine him. he was very tall and very thin, his face was handsome, dark hair and dark eyes, fine features and a sad smile which could break hearts. He was wearing a brown suit with thin white stripes, a pale blue shirt and a blue and red striped-tie. Horrible red shoes, Isobel noticed, just like the ones she had dreamt. He was the young man that had invaded her dreams in the last days.

"You know me, Harriet Jones."

"_Harriet Jones?_" she frowned, holding Richard's arm, "My name is Isobel Crawley. I do not know any Harriet Jones nor you. I'm sorry but -"

"Think. Deep inside you memories, you -"

"Haven't you heard her?" snapped Richard angrily, "She said she does not know you!"

"Richard, wait," she moved to his side, never taking away her gaze from the young man in front of them, "Wait."

"You remember me!" exclaimed happily the young man, "I was so sure it was you, since the first instant I recognized you voice, and -"

"I did not said I've recognized you," she said quickly, "It's just... your familiar," Isobel caressed her temple, as she was trying to remember something, someone. And she remembered something: a blue bos. Stars. A young, blond woman. London. A lot of people dressed in strange way. A menace to the Earth. Aliens? _Harriet Jones_, "I... I don't..."

"I'm sure you'll remember this," seeing her struggle to remember, the young man in front of them smiled guilty to her "_Don't you think she looks tired?_"

Isobel gasped at Richard's side, putting a hand to her mouth. She was trembling now, Richard could feel it against his arm, and it worried him, tears were quickly forming in her widened eyes.

"Isobel? What's this?"

"Doctor?" she murmured.

Richard looked at her puzzled, "Yes, my love, I'm a doctor, you know -"

"No," said the young man, "She's referring to me."

"Of course I'm referring to you," murmured Isobel, leaving Richard's side at taking a small step toward him "Doctor..."

"Do you remember me?"

"Yes," she said with a sob, her trembling hand still in front of her lips "I remember you. I remember everything." she added, a hurt note in her voice.

The young man only nodded and bowed his head, his shoulders trembling strongly as he tried to control his feeling, in vain. Without thinking twice, under Richard's astonished gaze, Isobel took a few, quick steps in the young man's direction and embraced him tightly just as he crumbled and broke down in tears, his handsome face contorted in pain and shame.

"I'm so sorry!" he cried, holding her, burying his face on her shoulder, shaking uncontrollably "Harriet, I'm so terribly, terribly sorry!"

"Harriet?!"

"It's okay, Doctor," whispered Isobel, high enough to Richard to her her, ingoring his stupefied exclamation, "Everything it's alright." she held him fiercely, as a mother would held her son, almost if she was holding her dear Matthew.

She remembered everything. She remembered him, his two different aspects, the young, sweet Rose with him, his story, their meeting, how badly they parted, her fall, the attack to the Earth, her death... and she did not understand how she can be alive and with a family and a lover in a past century.

She had always suspected the Doctor to be a lonely man, even if she had always see him with a companion. But his companions would go, he would stay, alone, immortal. He would regenerate and he would met other people, but at the end he would be always alone. The last of his people. She caressed the back of his head, "It's alright..." she was crying quietly too.

"It's not, Harriet. It was my fault. All my fault!" his voice was muffled by the soft fabric of her dress, but both Richard and Isobel heard him "You should not have to die! You should not have to sacrifice your life. Not for me. I did not deserve it!"

"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, you know it," she repeated the last nice thing she had said to him before their bad parting, her head slightly inclined "I did it because I had to. Because I wanted to."

"You died."

"But I helped to find you. And you helped us saving the Earth." she took his distraught face in her hands, looking at him as if he was a small boy "I was glad to do it. I was serving my country. I was doing my job, I protected my people."

"You were the greatest Prime Minister that the United Kingdom has ever had, Harriet Jones. And I am so, so sorry..."

"Don't," she told him firmly, "You don't have to blame yourself."

"Isobel," Richard's shocked voice emerged from the shadows of the room behind her, "What's going on here?"

"Richard," she finally let go the young man and turned to him, smiling trembling and weeping her eyes "I present you the Doctor."

"Are you alright?" he approached her, took her hand and with the other stroked her face, "My darling..."

"Everything it's alright," she squeezed both his hands, looking down, "But I think I have something to explain you."

"You know him?"

"I've just remembered him, but yes, I know him."

"Isobel, I beg you, what's going on? Who's that man and why do you know him?"

"I'm the Doctor." the young man come near to them and smiled to Richard, stretching out a hand that was not shook, "I'm an almost immortal alien with two hearts and I travel Time and Space thanks to my TARDIS, that blue police box," he added, pointing to the black squared form in the corner.

"This must be a nightmare." murmured Richard.

"It's not, my darling," Isobel caressed his hands, "Please, Richard, believe me."

"I believe you, Isobel," replied Richard, kissing lightly her knuckles before shooting a brief, deadly glare to the Doctor, looking then back to her, "I do not believe in him."

Unaware, or probably ignoring Richard's gaze, the Doctor smiled at him "Are you Isobel's husband?"

Both their head snapped up and they looked at the Doctor, their cheeks deep red.

"I'm a widow, Doctor." Isobel told him, blushing even deeper "He's -"

"I'll be her husband, and I hope soon."

She looked back at him fondly, her eyes glittering with tears, a happy, incredulous look on her face, her smile tremulous "You really?"

"Of course, my love, if you want," he kissed her hand and she nodded, "We'll talk about this later. Now could you kindly explain me what's going on?"

"I'm an alien," repeated the Doctor, smiling almost childish in joy, "And I come here to meet a person that I thought was dead."

"You know, I dreamt of you in those days," Isobel laughed a little, looking at the Doctor "Now I can understand all those strange dreams I've made."

"I think you started to dream me and what happened during your terms because the TARDIS was trying to find you crossing Time and Space."

"That's unbelievable," murmured Richard, still holding Isobel's hand, "You travel Time and Space with a police box called TARDIS. And Isobel has a previous life, and she was _who_?" he looked quizzically from her to the Doctor.

"Her name was Harriet Jones and she was Prime Minister of United Kingdom for three times. She began the _Britain's Golden Age_ before I destroyed her political career out of spite. And I'm so sorry for that, Harriet," the Doctor looked at her, guilty, "Really sorry."

"You did what you think was better at that time."

"And I was wrong. You were right, and I made you fall. I got you killed, Harriet."

"You did not!" she exclaimed, taking him by the arm and shaking him lightly, "I died because of the Daleks!"

"But nevertheless you died because of my wrong decision. You lost your life there because of me," the Doctor gave her a long, silent look, before going on changing subjects "You seem so happy here, in this time. In this life."

Isobel smiled broadly at him, her smile radiant among the tears, her eyes sparkling, "I am. I have a son, Matthew. He's getting married to a beautiful lady, Mary. The man I loved has just said that he want to become my husband," she glanced behind at Richard and he returned fondly her gaze. She was so happy, he noticed, so beautifully happy. She hadn't understand yet that the Doctor was bloody serious and sad, "And I'm a nurse, Doctor," she went on, looking back at him, "I can help people!"

"This is just like you, Harriet. You tried to help people as Prime Minister, you're helping people now..." he went silent for some moments and when he spoke again it was with deep sadness in his voice, "I'm glad your happy. You deserve that."

They all went silent for some long minutes, the Doctor looking at the floor covered with a light blue rug, like almost everything in that small sitting-room, Isobel watching him carefully, still surprised to see him, and Richard glancing at her, holding firmly her hand as if he was afraid that she will leave him to go back to the future.

"I wanted to see all my friends before the end, but I am still shocked about this. You're alive," finally breaking the heavy silence, the Doctor took Isobel's hands without looking at her "I haven't seen Rose yet, do you remember her?"

"Of course I remember her, but why _before the end_? Doctor?"

"I'll regenerate soon. I was mortally injured by the Master. Harold Saxon, you know."

"_That _Harold Saxon? My successor at Downing Street?" she asked in disbelief, "He seemed such a good man to me, didn't his wife killed him?"

"It's a long story. The central point is that I'm dying and I'll regenerate. I wanted to say farewell, and the TARDIS brought me to my friends and companions. I had... I had no idea you were alive, and in the past. It's a miracle! I bet the Weeping Angels are somehow involved too."

"What's a Weeping Angel?"

"It's an alien, I'm glad you have never meet them, they're worse than the Sycoraxes and the Slitheens together." he explained, got a little carried away in his Doctor-way-of-explaining-things, "But I have no time for this now," he finally looked up at her, terribly sad, his eyes shining with unshed tears, "Harriet Jones. Farewell, Harriet Jones."

"It's not a farewell, Doctor," she smiled, "It's a good-bye. We'll wait for your visit again."

At her back, Richard, silent near the sofa, nodded briskly his consent, in spite of himself intrigued by the story.

"I'll not come back, Harriet."

"But you will regenerate! And we will wait for you, keeping your secret. We have a lot of things to tell to Richard! Can you imagine? So many things!"

"You can not tell them to him." he said with a firm, harsh voice.

She looked at him, puzzled "I don't understand, Doctor. Why not?"

"Because you will not remember them. You will not remember you previous life," he took a long breath, "You'll not remember me."

"But I remember them, I remember you!" protested Isobel, squeezing strongly his hands, "I've just remembered everything!"

"Yes, you remember them now. Harriet Jones, you can not happily live this life if you remember the previous one. How can you live as a nurse at the beginning of 1900, when you were the most powerful woman in the United Kingdom in 2000s?" his eyes were sad while he was speaking and Isobel started to understand what he wanted to do, "You'll went mad, Harriet. And I just want you to be happy."

"But I want to remember, Doctor! I want to remember everything has happened, everything I've seen, I've done, the wonderful people I've met! I want to remember you!" she was quickly panicking, her grip painful on his hands, her eyes desperate, "I -"

"Donna said the same things to me. And I had to erase her memories as well. I'll remember you, Harriet Jones, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. People in the 2000s will remember you, your governments and your heroic, heroic death."

"Doctor -" her eyes widened as she realized everything.

"I was shocked when Rose told me that you gave up your life in finding me. You were so brave," he confessed with a small smile, "Take this action as my wedding present for the two of you. Be happy, Harriet Jones."

She shook frantically her head in denial, "No, Doctor. You can not do this to me, not after what has happened, you can not erase my life. I want to remember, I -"

"Good-bye, Harriet Jones." he raised his hand to her left temple, smiling sadly, "Welcome, Isobel Crawley."

"No!" she let out a strangled cried, like the one that Donna let out a long time before, breaking the Doctor's hearts, and her hands slipped from his one, her knees gone suddenly weak.

"Isobel!" Richard ran to her and caught her before it fell to the ground. She was limp in his arms, pale, motionless "Isobel!" he raised his head and glared at the young man in front of him, "What have you done to her, you monster?"

The other man, _the Doctor_ as Isobel had called him, cringed a little when he called him _monster_, but answered quietly to him "I erased her memory. She will not remember me. She will live the life she had created here at your side without her memories from her precedent life. She has just fainted, she's -"

"_This_ is her life!" Richard shouted, "Not the one you said she had in London in what, _in the future_? As Prime Minister? For goodness sake, she's just a nurse, she's my Isobel!" knelt on the floor, he returned his gaze on woman in his arms, caressing her cheek "My love, wake up, please, wake up."

"She is one of the -"

"Shut up!" he got up from the ground with Isobel in his arms, and for the second time sent to hell the Doctor "I do not care what you have to say!"

"You should," the Doctor watched as Richard put her gently down on the sofa, as he controlled anxiously her heartbeat and her breath, "She's the best woman I've ever met."

"You said you killed her in that other life! How could you think she's the best woman you've ever met if you had killed her?!"

"She died because of me, but I did not kill her." he felt Richard's gaze fixed on his dropped head so he went on, "It was a mistake. A terrible, stupid mistake by my part. She was the Prime Minister ans she acted in order to protect her people. I did not like her choices, her actions, and..." his voice went off and he dropped his head.

"And?"

"And her government fell because I spread the voice that she was ill. She was not, of course. She went back to private life, without escorts. When the Daleks attacked the Earth, they found her and killed her. It was all my fault."

Ignoring for a moment that the man in front of him had just admitted that he was the cause of Isobel's - _Harriet's_, Isobel was very alive with him - death, Richard questioned, "What the hell is a Dalek?"

"An alien." the Doctor caught up the stunned look on the older man's face and shrugged a little, "It's not important." he pointed at Isobel with the head, "How is she?"

"Weak. Unconscious," answered shortly Richard, looking worried at her, "But in the morning she'll be better. She just need rest."

"I'm really sorry to have done this to her, but it was necessary. I've already did it to another friend of mine some times ago, Donna." the Doctor briefly closed his eyes, as if he was suffering, "It's better for them to not remember me. They'll go on with their lives."

Richard gave him a quick look and the tired aspect of the Doctor struck him. A wave of pity threatened to submerge him as he asked the younger man, "Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm dying," answered simply the Doctor, with a weary smile, "Or, better, as Harriet knows, I'll regenerate in another form and go on living, I'm immortal or almost. Another person, another personality, another feelings. But with the same memories."

"It does not seem a good bargain," replied Richard, still knelt at Isobel's side, "You always lose all those you love."

"It is a good bargain if you're not the last of your people. But if you are, like I am, no, it is not a good bargain."

"I'm sorry. Your life looks like a living hell."

"It's okay," said the Doctor flatly, "I have a great fun with my companions and friends until they travel with me or die. One day I'll die too. I'll regenerate in a short time, but I wanted to say good-bye to my friends, so I asked the TARDIS to find them, but... I did not know that Harriet was alive."

"Isobel."

"Yes, right, Isobel. It was a surprise to find her here. My TARDIS is malfunctioning, it brought me back to this place several times in a short period, and then tonight it took my here." he indicated the blue police box in the corner of the sitting-room, "But I have to go, now."

"I understand less than half of what you said, but I understand you're leaving. What shall I say to Isobel when she wakes up? How is she, how are we going to live now that she remembers her previous life?" Richard looked at him, utterly depressed "I can not give her what she had in her other life. I'm a village doctor, not a minister, I can not -"

"She'll not remember, you know I erased her memories."

"But I will!" he spatted, rising to his feet, his eyes level with the Doctor's ones "I do not want to lie to her!"

"You will not remember me. You'll weak up in your bed, and all of this would just be just a confused dream for both of you."

"But, how is it -"

"You're a good man. You love her and she's happy here, happier than when she was Prime Minister Jones. She deserves this happiness. Take care of her, doctor Clarkson. Be her Doctor, as I've never been able to. Protect her until your final breath."

"I love her," murmured Richard, as it was the only answer he could give to the Doctor.

"I know," the Doctor smiled sadly, slowly rising hid left hand to Richard's temple, "Farewell, doctor Clarkson."

...**...**

She blinked in the warm morning light that invaded her room. Brushing her hands on her eyes, she stifle a yawn and looked up at him, just to find Richard already wake and looking at her with a soft smile "Good morning."

"Good morning, Isobel," he kissed her on the forehead, "You look beautiful this morning. Have you sleep well?"

"I have, thank you. The best sleep of this week. And I'm feeling so very happy."

"Because of me?" he teased, playing absently with the wild curls on her shoulders.

"Of course, Richard. You always make me happy."

He looked down at her. When he woke up, almost an hour before her, he felt the urge to hold her tight to him, as if he was afraid to lose her. He could not tell why, but he was truck with fear of losing her. He felt like he had almost lost her the night before, but he could not figure out why. He remembered having dinner with her, he was very tired, but he could not remember how and when they had decided that he would stop to sleep Crawley House. Nor be remembered went up to her room. The memories of the previous night were very confused, he vaguely remember a young man and the risk of losing Isobel.

"I love you, Isobel. Never leave me, okay?"

"Nor do you," she sighed happily, looking at him, smiling sweetly, "I love you too."

"My companion." the word seemed to strike a chord inside his chest, but he did not know why. Her voice, however, distracted him again.

"My doctor."

...**...**

He knocked at their door in a warm spring afternoon, some months later. It was a small, nice cottage at the side of the village hospital, smaller and more familiar than the big house in which she previously lived. He imagined than now her son and her daughter-in-law were living in the big house at the other side of the village, while she was living here with her newly-wed husband.

The door opened and she appeared in the doorway in front of him. She had not changed much since the last time he had seen her. Her long, light hair was pinned up in a simple knot and her dark eyes staring at him curiously. She was wearing a dark red dress covered in a white coat, was happy to see that she had continued with her vocation as nurse.

"Mrs Clarkson?"

"Yes!" she affirmed that like she was incredibly happy about hearing herself called in that way, and it squeezed his hearts with joy, "Good morning!" she smiled warmly at him from the door, "I've never see you in Downton, may I help you?"

Although he knew it, that fact that she did not remember him hurt desperately a lot, "No, thank you, Mrs Clarkson. I just wanted to see the hospital, it's quite famous in the near-villages. The garden is fantastic."

"Oh, really?" her smile widened, "My husband will be very happy to know it. Would you like to take a quick visited also inside? I can call him and then -"

"I'm sorry, Mrs Clarkson, I'm quite in a hurry." he clanged at his back and saw Amelia waiting patiently for him at the corner of the street, "My dear companion is waiting for me."

For a brief, hopeful, beautiful second he believed to see a glow of awareness shone in her dark eyes, but it was probably just a reflection of the warm sunlight. Then she nodded quickly and the bright glow was gone, "You can come back another time, then. Good-bye, Mister...?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor." Isobel looked at him smiling quiet puzzled, "Doctor who?"

He smiled. She had just asked him The Question and she could not know nor understand it. He stretched out his hand for her and she squeezed it, making him smile, "Just the Doctor, Mrs Clarkson. I have to go now."

"We'll wait for your visit, then," she smiled at him gently one last time, "Good-bye, Doctor."

**The End.**

**Pls R/R if you have time.**

**Kisses from Italy!**


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